Academic and Professional Expertise

Dr Yonah Hisbon Matemba is a highly experienced educator, researcher and doctoral supervisor (in educational and social sciences related topics) and has worked as a schoolteacher and later as an academic in diverse socio-cultural settings in Africa and the United Kingdom (UK) for over 30 years. Dr Matemba has expertise in teacher education (including school practicum), historical-comparative studies, curriculum studies, decolonial/anti-racist education, religious education and related areas in social sciences education. He is an experienced qualitative researcher in educational, religious, historical and comparative research, and versed in phenomenological, educational ethnography, case study, narrative inquiry, comparative and historical research methods. Dr Matemba is proficient in several theoretical perspectives as applied in educational and social sciences research and teaching: (a) Anti-Colonial Theory, (b) Risk Society Theory, (c) Foucauldian Theory, and (d) Bourdieusian Theory.

Advancing Scholarship in Anti-Colonial Theory in Education

Dr Matemba's scholarship (see below, Matemba, 2021, 2022, 2024, 2025, 2026) is advancing critical understanding in the utility and application of Anti-Colonial Theory in Religion and Education but also with wider implications for its application for education anywhere impacted by colonialism and epistemic violence. 

Academic and Professional Background

Dr Matemba holds several academic and professional qualifications from various universities (in the US, Africa and UK):

• 2013: Cert. Philosophy and Psychiatry) Hilda’s College, University of Oxford, UK).
• 2013: PGCertTLHE (Professional Education in Higher Education Teaching (University of the West of Scotland, UK).
• 2011: PhD Education (University of Glasgow, UK).
• 2000: MA History (University of Botswana, Botswana).
• 2000: MA Theology & Religious Studies, distinction (University Malawi, Malawi).
• 1991: Cert. Professional Teacher Education (Solusi University, Zimbabwe).
• 1991: BA+CCE (Andrews University, USA).

Dr Matemba is a Fellow of AdvanceHE (FHEA) and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA). I am a professionally qualified schoolteacher (certified by the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS)) and have taught in secondary schools in Malawi, Botswana and Scotland.  At various times before joining the University of the West of Scotland in 2011, Dr Matemba previously taught in higher education at the University of Botswana (part-time), Molepolole College of Education (full-time), Catholic University of Malawi (part-time) and University of Glasgow (part-time).

Prestige and Contribution

• High quality published research: entered in UoA 23 in the UK’s prestigious Research Exercise Framework (REF) in 2014 and 2021.
• Doctoral supervision to successful completion (nine students to date).
• Fellow, Advance HE – Higher Education (FHEA)
• Fellow, Royal Society of Arts (FRSA)
• Appointed Senior Research Fellow in ‘Religion and Decolonial Education’, Bishop Grosseteste University, Lincoln, UK (2025-)
• Postgraduate Research Co-Ordinator, UWS Divion of Education (2018-2024).
• Excellence in teaching in higher education in Africa and UK.
• Co-chair: Religion, Education and Society SIG - Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) (2018-2024).
• Deputy Editor: British Journal of Religious Education (BJRE) and editor responsible for Special Issues (2018-). A leading journal in this field.

• Editor-in-Chief (inaugural): MTEC Journal, Malawi (2021-2023)

• Editorial Board Member on internationally recognised Q1 journals: British Journal of Religious Education (Taylor & Francis), The Curriculum Journal (Wiley) and Humanities & Social Sciences Communication (SpringerNature).
• Chairperson (2018-), Further and higher Education Forum, Scotland-Malawi Partnership (civil organisation): https://www.scotland-malawipartnership.org/events/further-higher-education-forum.
• Trustee: David Livingstone Trust (2020-): https://www.david-livingstone-birthplace.org/governance
• Erasmus scholar: University of Malta (2017), Absalon University College, Denmark (2019) and Bern University of Teacher Education, Switzerland (2022) – awarded under the Swiss European Mobility Programme (SEMP).

Doctoral Supervision and Experience

Dr Matemba has extensive experience supervising and examining doctoral projects (PhD and DProf), including doctoral examination and chairing doctoral vivas. He has examined doctoral theses in many universities in the UK and international: University of Greater Manchester, Glasgow University & University of the West of Scotland, and in South Africa - University Pretoria and North West University. Dr Matemba has supervised to successful completion many doctoral projects either as lead or second supervisor as noted below:

1. Amira Lagha (2025, PhD): An Investigation of How Universities in Algeria Can Engage in Interdisciplinary Collaboration to Enhance Students’ Understanding and Application of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in their Studies:  A CHAT Analysis (as lead supervisor).
2. Tamara Horsburgh (2024, DProf) The Impact of Holding Faith, particularly the Christian Theologies of Hope and Suffering, when Diagnosed with Dementia: An IPA Study (as second supervisor).
3. Hanane Belaidi (2024, PhD) A Bourdieusian Analysis of the Linguistic Repertoires of Algerian Secondary School Teachers in the Berber Regions of Chaoui and Kabyle (as lead supervisor).
4. Amina Abdessalam (2024, PhD): Lifted Veils: Algerian Doctoral Students’ Experiences and Changing Perceptions of Study Abroad and Intercultural Competence in UK Higher Education (as second supervisor).
5. Meriem Abid (2024, PhD) How Algerian teachers engage with the values embedded across the second-generation curriculum (as second supervisor).
6. Mojolaoluwa Opeyemi Alabi (2022, PhD): University Graduates’ Self-Directed Learning and the Use of Diversified Strategies in Developing Income Generation Portfolios in Nigeria (as second supervisor).
7. Samson Oyerinde Oladejo (2022, PhD): Discourses of Risk and (In)access to Free Basic Education in Nigeria with Special Reference to the Perspectives of Children and Young People in the Deprived Areas of Lagos (as lead supervisor).
8. Jayakumar Chinnasamy (2021, PhD) Educators’ Perspectives of Internationalisation in Scottish Higher Education: Culture, Identity, and Constructions of Scottishness (as co-lead supervisor).
9. Marjorie McCrory (2016, PhD): Transition from Schoolteacher to University Academic: Exploring Practices, Values, and Identity within and between Professional Learning Communities (as third supervisor).

Currently, Dr Matemba is supervising the following doctoral projects either as lead or second supervisor:

1. Stephen Dwomoh: Decolonising Ghana’s Secondary School Curriculum – Context and Strategies: An IPA Study, (lead supervisor).
2. Tayba Altaf: Analysis of Young Women’s Employability Skills Learning in Private Vocational Institutions in Saudi Arabia (Lead supervisor).
3. Carly King: Negotiating communication, participation, and fairness in intercultural classrooms among students from different cultural backgrounds in Scottish universities (lead supervisor)
4. Naga Sai Dinavahi: Regulatory Changes and their Impact on Independent Higher Education Institutions (HIEs) in England: A Case Study (lead supervisor).
5. Zeyneb Bouzaida: Algerian Muslim Parents’ Understandings of the Purpose of Quranic Schools: A Phenomenological Study (lead supervisor).
6. Nor Elhouda Zenati: Policy Networks in Higher Education Policymaking: A Comparative Study of Algeria and Scotland 1999-2020(lead supervisor).
7. Mehdjouba Ghezali: Teaching and Learning in Algerian Prisons: Critical Perspectives of Prison Educators (lead supervisor).
8. Nasrin Sultana: Headteachers’ Leadership of School Improvement in Bangladeshi Government Primary Schools: An Ethnographic Study (second supervisor).

Recent Publications (2019-2025)

Dr Matemba has published extensively in books, articles, chapters, special issues and others.

Books

1. Matemba, Y.H. and Collet, B (Eds.) (2022) The Handbook of Religious Education in the Global South, London: Bloomsbury, 520pp: The Bloomsbury Handbook of Religious Education in the Global South: : Yonah Hisbon Matemba: Bloomsbury Academic.
2. Matemba, Y.H. and Addai-Mununkum, R. (2021) Religious Education in Malawi and Ghana: Perspectives on Religious Misrepresentation and Misclusion, London: Routledge, 168pp: https://www.routledge.com/Religious-Education-in-Malawi-and-Ghana-Perspectives-on-Religious-Misrepresentation/Matemba-Addai-Mununkum/p/book/9780367352141

Special Issues – Co-Guest Editor

1. Hess, M., Matemba, Y.H., Segobye, A. and Sporre, K. (2025) Special Issue: Genders, sexualities and Religious Education, British Journal of Religious Education, 47(1): British Journal of Religious Education: Vol 47, No 1
2. Gearon, L., Kuusisto, A., Matemba, Y.H., Benjamin, S., Du Preez, P., Koirikivi, P. and Simmonds, S. (2021) Decolonising the Religious Education Curriculum: International Perspectives in Theory, Research, and Practice, British Journal of Religious Education, 43(1), 135pp.: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cbre20/43/1?nav=tocList

Journal Articles

1. Matemba, Y.H.  (2024) “Neocolonialism, Anti-Coloniality and Religious Education: New Lessons from Africa South of the Sahara (ASoS),” Religious Education, 119(3), pp. 210-226: https://doi.org/10.1080/00344087.2024.2352977.
2. Matemba, Y.H. (2021) “Religious Identity, Social Space, and Discourses of Religious Education Reform in Scotland and Malawi: A Bourdieusian Analysis”, Journal of Religious Education, 69(2), pp. 219-238: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40839-021-00139-5.
3. Matemba, Y.H (2021) “George James: Pioneer Seventh-day Adventist Missionary to Malawi, 1893–1894,” Journal of Adventist Mission Studies, 16(2), pp. 67-87: https://dx.doi.org/10.32597/jams/vol16/iss2/6/.
4. Matemba, Y.H. (2021) “Decolonising religious education in sub-Saharan Africa through the prism of anticolonialism: a conceptual proposition,” British Journal of Religious Education, 43(1), pp. 33-45: https://doi.org/10.1080/01416200.2020.1816529.
5. Matemba, Y.H. and Addai-Mununkum, R. (2019) “‘These religions are no good – they’re nothing but idol worship’: Mis/representation of religion in Religious Education at school in Malawi and Ghana,” British Journal of Religious Education, 41(2), pp. 155-173: https://doi.org/10.1080/01416200.2017.1329706

Book Chapters

1. Matemba, Y.H. (2026) “Anti-Colonisation, Religion and Education Africa South of the Sahara,” in Ubani, M., Trembly, S. Unser, A. and Garvis, S. (eds.) The Palgrave Handbook of Religion in Public Education, London: Palgrave Macmillan:  https://link.springer.com/book/9783032028891
2. Matemba, Y.H. (2025) “Africa South of the Sahara: An Anticolonial Framework for Religion and Education,” in Liam Gearon and Arniika Kuusisto (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Education, London: Oxford University Press, pp. 511-526: The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Education (Oxford Handbooks in Religion and Theology): Amazon.co.uk: Gearon, Liam Francis, Kuusisto, Arniika: 9780198869511: Books.
3. Matemba, Y.H. (2024) “Multi-faith RE: A Theoretical and Practical Conundrum,” in L. Philip Barnes (Ed.) Debates in Religious Education (2^nd Edition), London: Routledge), pp. 178-189.: Debates in Religious Education (Debates in Subject Teaching) : Barnes, L. Philip: Amazon.co.uk: Books.
4. Chan, A., Amarasingam, A., Couture, A., Wijesekera, H.G., Tiflati, H. and Matemba, Matemba, Y.H (2023), “When Discussion of Religion is Not Encouraged-- Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” in Jo Fraser-Pearce and James W. Fraser (Eds.), The Bloomsbury Handbook of Schools and Religion, London: Bloomsbury, pp. 172-191: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/bloomsbury-handbook-of-schools-and-religion-9781350297272/.
5. Matemba, Y.H., Addai-Mununkum, R., Nthontho, M. and Museka, G. (2023) “Religious Minorities at School South of the Sahara,” in Jo Fraser-Pearce and James W. Fraser (Eds.), The Bloomsbury Handbook of Schools and Religion, London: Bloomsbury, pp. 303-319 : https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/bloomsbury-handbook-of-schools-and-religion-9781350297272/.
6. Matemba, Y.H. (2022) “Towards an Anticolonial Agenda for Decolonising Theological Education South of the Sahara,” in Chimera, F., Mvula H. and Ross, K. (Eds.) Decolonising the Theological Curriculum in an Online Age, Mzuzu: Mzuni Press, pp. 131-156.
7. Matemba, Y.H. and Seretse, T.E. (2022) “Young People’s Dis/engagement with Religion in Contemporary Society: Implications for Religious Education in Botswana,” in Matemba, Y.H and Collet, B.A. (Eds.) The Bloomsbury Handbook of Religious Education in the Global South, London:  Bloomsbury, pp. 250-269.

Editorials

1. Hess, M., Matemba, Y.H., Segobye, A. and Sporre, K. (2025) “Genders, Sexualities and Religious Education, British Journal of Religious Education, 47(1), pp. 1-4.
2. Matemba, Y.H. (2024) “Re-Imagining the Religious Education Teacher,” British Journal of Religious Education, 46: 4, pp. 349-353. 
3. Matemba, Y.H. (2023) “Critique in Religious Education,” British Journal of Religious Education, 45: 4, pp. 309-312.
4. L., Kuusisto, A., Matemba, Y., Benjamin, S., Du Preez, O., Koirikivi, P., and Simmonds, S. (2021) “Decolonising the religious education curriculum”, British Journal of Religious Education, 43:1, pp. 1-8.
5. Matemba, Y.H. (2020) “Gazing back and moving forward,” British Journal of Religious Education, 42 (2), pp. 115-119.
6. Stern, J., Matemba, Y.H. and Lundie (2019) “An Island, Entire of Itself,” British Journal of Religious Education, 41(3 & 4), pp. 243-246.
7. Stern, J., Matemba, Y.H. Lundie, D. and Walshe, K. (2019) “Why knowing this matters,” British Journal of Religious Education, 41(2), pp. 121-123

Book Reviews

1. Matemba, Y.H. (2020) “A history of Catholic education and schooling in Scotland: new perspectives,” British Journal of Religious Education, 42(2), pp. 245-247.

My current project is advancing knowledge and understanding in the utility and applicability of anti-colonial theory as analytical framework in curriculum-making and education.

I have expertise in the following areas (including Masters and Doctoral supervision):

• Decolonising/Anticolonising Education
• Teacher Education and Professional Learning
• Religious and Moral Education
• Theological and Missiological Education
• Mental Health/Wellbeing and Education
• Sociology of Education
• Education in Developing Countries
• Comparative and International Education
• Indigenous Studies and Education
• Prison Education
• African and Church History
• Quality Assurance in Higher Education 

Potential Grant applications

Capacity bulding for early career researchers in Africa South of the Sahara. 

School leaders and teacher in the UK and Africa

Universities in the UK and Africa

Third sector providers of prison education in the UK